The images
in the following program
are highly sensitive
and may be
as disturbing to viewers
as they were to us.
However, we have to
show the truth about
cruelty to animals,
praying that you will
help to stop it.

This is the Stop
Animal Cruelty series
on Supreme Master
Television.
This week we examine
the role our animal
co-inhabitants played
during the holy occasion
of the birth of
Jesus Christ and see
how these beings are
treated more than
2,000 years later
during Christmas,
a blessed celebration
of Jesus coming
to our world.

2011 Years ago …

The sacred story begins
when the Angel Gabriel
was sent by God
to Nazareth to deliver
a message to Mother
Mary about Jesus Christ.
According to
Luke 1:32-33,
the Angel Gabriel said:
“He shall be great,
and shall be called
the Son of the Highest.
The Lord God will
give him the throne
of his father David, and
he will reign over Jacob’s
descendants forever;
his kingdom
will never end.”

At the time
Caesar Augustus,
the first Roman emperor,
issued an order that
a census must be taken of
all the people
in the Roman Empire
and so everyone returned
to their hometown
to register.
Thus Joseph traveled
with Mary from Nazareth
to Bethlehem.
Such a long journey
would have been very
challenging and tiring
for an expectant mother.
Mary rode upon a donkey
who gladly offered
his services to the Lord
and the Christ to be born.

On arriving at Bethlehem,
there was no room
at the inn
due to the census,
so Joseph took Mary
and sought shelter
in the humble home
of cows and donkeys,
a barn filled with straw.
The cows happily
welcomed Mary and
Joseph with kindness and
unconditional hospitality.
After the birth of
the baby Jesus,
all the animal
co-inhabitants rejoiced.

The animals lovingly
offered their straw
for the couple to lie
on and their manger
as a crib
for the baby Jesus.
At nighttime a dog kept
vigil while the doves,
harbingers of peace,
cooed soft,
sweet melodies
to infant Jesus to
help him sleep soundly.
The animals also warmed
the gentle infant
with their breaths.
And so it was that the
Redeemer came to Earth
through God’s Grace
and with the benevolent
protection of
these animal angels.

2011 Years later …

Every year during
the Christmas season,
millions of factory
farmed animals are killed
and then served
as part of holiday meals.
In fact in the US alone,
it is estimated that
20 million turkeys
are slaughtered annually
for Christmas.
Turkeys,
just like the doves
in the Nativity story,
are members of
the avian species
and are very intelligent
and caring animals.

Professor Ian Duncan,
an expert on domestic
fowl at the University
of Guelph in Ontario,
Canada has stated that,
“Turkeys possess
marked intelligence
[as] revealed by such
behavioral indices
as their complex
social relationships,
and their many
different methods of
communicating
with each other,
both visual and vocal.”

Stuffed into dark,
windowless sheds
by the thousands,
turkeys as well as
chickens undergo severe
suffering due to their
obscene living conditions.
The exploited birds
spend much of their time
wading in their own feces
and urine which causes
burns on their bodies.
Parasitic and bacterial
infections go untreated.
In such an utterly
filthy environment,
bird flu runs rife.

The birds are fed
an unnatural diet filled
with antibiotics in order
to quickly fatten them up
for the holiday season.
Many of the turkeys
become crippled
as they put on weight
10 times faster than
they would normally,
with this massive weight
gain causing internal
organ damage.

You go into one of
those (turkey) farms,
and we have
hours of footage of this,
where you literally
find it difficult
to even move through
the animals because
they are so packed in.
So you’ve got these huge,
overgrown animals
that have been selectively
bred to be much too big
for their age.
They can barely walk
because of
their overgrown size, and
they just about shift away
from you as you try
to walk through them,
and just seeing animals
who are just dead
lying on the floor,
who’ve just been left there,
even worse in some ways,
injured animals who are
just left untreated,
and just the general state
that they are in.

And the irony is that
people are going to
kill these (turkeys)
to celebrate the life
of Jesus Christ,
it’s Christmas.
I just find that
horrifically ironic that
people celebrate
what is supposed to
represent kindness,
compassion, mercy,
charity, and all those
noble attributes
of the human being
with something
that is so disgusting.

And what of the cows
that gave up their home
to shelter Mary
and Joseph in their time
of need?
The production of beef
and dairy products
is beyond inhumane.

People don't realize
the abuse in the dairy
industry is equally as bad
as in the beef industry,
that these animals
are kept pregnant
their whole lives.
And a dairy cow
only lives now about
five years instead of
the 20 that they would
normally live, because
they're constantly
impregnated
to keep the milk flowing.
And their bodies are
worn out by the time
they are five years old.
And they're sent off
to the slaughterhouse
to be made into
cheap hamburger meat.

Dairy cows are probably
the most miserable
animals on Earth,
because they can have
their babies taken away
the day that they’re born.
They’re milked and
they’re kept pregnant
and their bones fall apart
by the time they are
five years old,
from giving all that milk
and producing
all those calves.
It's not a nice thing
we do to these animals,
and our bodies suffer also.

And what is the fate
of dogs during this
season of merriment?
Sadly this time of year
sees a high rate of
dog euthanasia
by animal shelters
due to the abandonment
of canines given
as Christmas presents.
These living “gifts”
may end up unwanted
and be thrown into
the cold, harsh streets
where they suffer
from starvation,
thirst and exposure.

Finally they may be
picked up by the city
and put to death by
gassing or lethal injection
if no one adopts them
within a short period.
The Dogs Trust,
the largest dog welfare
charity in the UK,
has a program
to discourage
the gifting of canines
during Christmas.

Adam Levy,
assistant manager of
the Dogs Trust rehoming
center in Harefield,
West London, says that
during Christmastime
in the UK thousands
of dogs are abandoned
and adds, “The weeks
after Christmas
are traditionally
one of our busiest periods
because lots of people
are given puppies
as unwanted presents,
or people who
wanted a dog soon
realize they require
a lot of time and effort
which they are not
prepared to give.”
What about the lambs
that are often depicted
in nativity scenes sweetly
gazing at baby Jesus?

Before being slaughtered,
lambs have a number
of horrific procedures
carried out on them.
At only a few days old
males are castrated,
usually by
having an extremely tight
plastic ring placed
around their genitals,
thus cutting off
the blood supply and
the reproductive organ
eventually withers
and falls off.
This is
excruciatingly painful
and done without
pain killers or anesthetics.

The babies also
have their ears tagged
by piercing and undergo
“tail docking” where
the tail is either cut off
or has an extremely tight
plastic ring placed on it,
which similar to castration,
causes the tail
to shrivel and fall off.
The noble donkey
carried Mother Mary
a long distance
to Bethlehem.
In many parts of
the world today,
donkeys and mules
endure disrespect,
torture and abuse.
The Donkey Sanctuary,
located in the beautiful
countryside of
County Cork, Ireland
rescues our
donkey friends who
have been maltreated.

Eugene and Pat are
rescuing a young donkey
called Michelle
from a life of cruelty
and neglect.

The guards are sorting it
all out now and
in a couple of minutes
we will be able to put
the donkey on the wagon
and leave.
She is fairly bedraggled,
isn’t she?
She has sores
all along her back
and she is absolutely
skin and bone.

Where they have tied
the rope around her neck,
it has actually just
started to get imbedded
in her neck here.
Her feet have been cut.
You can see where
they have actually cut it
with a saw.
Her feet are probably
turned right up now,
but they cut it with a saw.
She obviously may have
had an infestation of lice,
If she knew where
she was going,
she would be dancing.

Now, there’s a good girl.

The next few weeks
are critical for Michelle.
The vet’s report shows
that she is severely
malnourished
and underweight.
She has chronic skin
sores, a bad infestation
of lice, and has difficulty
walking because
her feet have been
badly damaged.

The treatment of
our fellow animal
co-inhabitants during
the Christmas season is
nothing short of barbaric.
Supreme Master
Ching Hai
addressed this topic
during a gathering
of our Association
members in London, UK
on Christmas Eve 2006.

And I don’t think
Christ, Jesus Christ,
has ever desired
or taught his disciples
in those times,
or now even, that He ever
want them to do like this.
Or to celebrate
Christmas by killing
thousands and billions,
thousands of millions
of turkeys or chickens
or pigs or pork or
you know beef or whatever
in the name of Christ.
This is really all wrong!
They should all stop this!
Because in the name of
Christ, He is Love.
He is Love incarnate.

Let us commemorate
every Christmas
with love.
May our love expand to
our family and friends,
our brothers and sisters
across all nations,
as well as all the animals
whom God has bestowed
upon our planet
to bless and help us,
like they did when
Jesus was born.
Please think compassion
when buying your meals
during Christmas
and the rest of the year.
Let only cruelty-free
alternatives
like mock turkey meat,
veggie ham and sausages,
soymilk and vegan cakes
and cookies fill our tables
and tummies,
creating peace
and happiness for all.

Thank you
for your presence today
on Stop Animal Cruelty.
May all beings
have a wondrous and
joyful Christmas with
an abundance of blessings
from the Creator.